Leaf script is a beautiful lettering style which, at first glance, can appear to be difficult to draw. Once you understand how and where to attach the leaves to the body of a letter, it should become easier to understand. It is assumed that the reader has a basic knowledge of the engraver's script alphabet. If not, brush up on that, as it is the foundation upon which leaf script is built.

The letter "J" is lightly sketched. Instead of hairlines as in normal script, a thick letter is drawn with swells where the brightcuts would be. Thick letters provide more opportunity for fine shading later, but is not imperative.

Borders are lightly drawn inside letter.

In this photo I'm drawing the lines that represent the left and right sides of each leaf. It is important to note how one line attaches to the outside of the letter, while the other attaches to the inside border and overlaps the letter. If there's a trick to drawing leaf script, this is probably it. Refer back to this step until you thoroughly understand it.

The two cuts are connected with the leaf tips. Feel free to experiment with different leaves and leaf shapes. Leaf script is very much open to interpretation.

The leaves are cleaned up by erasing the original borders and all lines are drawn a bit darker. This leaf is ready for shading.

A few small leaves are added to the outside and shading has been applied (I can shade much better with a graver than with a pencil).